ART. V.-THE WANDERING JEW AND HIS CON GENERS. The Wandering Jew. By MONCURE DANIEL CONWAY, author of "Demonology and Devil-Lore." New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1881. Curious Myths of the Middle Ages. By S. BARING-GOULD, M.A., author of "PostMedieval Preachers," etc. (Revised edition.) London: Rivingtons. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1869. To the student of history the fantastic legends of the Middle Ages open rich fields for investigation. Developed unconsciously from the poetic fancies of effete religions, from strange distortions of divine revelation, and from the passions and longings of the human heart, they found ready credence in an age of ignorance; and became powerful formative factors in the mental and moral growth of later generations. "The history of Christianity," says Dean Milman, in an eloquent digression from the steady course of his historic narrative, "cannot be understood without pausing at stated periods to survey the progress and development of the Christian mythology, which, gradually growing up, and springing as it did from natural and universal instincts, took a more perfect and systematic form, and at length, at the height of the Middle Ages, was as much a part of Latin Christianity as the primal truths of the Gospel." Perhaps the strangest of such legends, and the most suggestive to the modern student of mediæval Christianity, were those of the "Undying Ones"-men and women who, cursed for their crimes or blessed for their virtues, were lifted by God above the power of death. While "the great world spins forever down the ringing grooves of change they are supposed to lie in echoless caverns wrapped in unbroken slumber, or to luxuriate in distant insulated Edens, or, more marvelously still, to stride across the centuries, gazing solemnly on the mutations of time-themselves, alone of all that breathe, unchanged. Unique in its weird grandeur, the story of the Wandering Jew won, for nearly six centuries, the unquestioning belief of Christendom; and even yet, though investigation long ago relegated it to the Cimmerian realm of myths, it continues to command the interest of the learned and the thoughtful. Dr. J. G. Th. Grässe,* M. Schoebel,† and M. Gaston Paris, are the best authorities on the antiquarian features of the legend. Its symbolic meaning has been, with the scholars of Germany especially, a favorite subject for study, until around it has grown a voluminous and valuable literature; but, strange to say, until the appearance of Mr. Conway's monograph, no extensive treatise on the subject existed in the English language. In the present article a sketch of the growth of the legend and of kindred myths is attempted, together with an examination of their influence on modern literature, and a glance at their signification. HISTORY OF the Legend. In the year 1228, while the devotees of Europe were flocking eastward in thousands to atone for their sins by penance and prayer amid the sacred scenes of Jerusalem, a certain Archbishop of Armenia made a pilgrimage in an opposite direction, and visited the shrine of "S. Tumas de Kantorbire," and other holy places of the west. Chroniclers of the time § give us glimpses of this dignitary at several stages of his journey -on the banks of the Rhine, in the Low Countries, and at various monasteries in England. Every-where the religious men entertained him with due reverence and honor, and everywhere his hosts were edified by his holy conversation. Among other "strange things concerning eastern countries" communicated by this prelate and the members of his retinue, was an account of the manner of life of the Wandering Jew. According to this narration, Pilate had for the porter of his hall one Cartaphilus, who, when our Lord was dragged forth from the governor's palace to be crucified, impiously struck him on the back with his hand, and said in mockery, "Quicker, Jesus, quicker! why do you loiter?" Jesus looked on him, as he had done on Peter, and with severe countenance said, "I am going, but thou shalt wait till I return "-" and according as our Lord said, this Cartaphilus is still awaiting his return." He was then thirty years of age, and although he grew to be a *Die Sage vom Ewigen Juden, historisch entwecklt mit verwandter Mythen verglichen und beleuchtet, 1844. + La legende du Juif Errant, 1877. Le Juif Errant, 1880. § Matthew Paris, Historia Major; and Philippe de Mouskes, Chronique rimée. centenarian, he "returned again to the same age as he was when our Lord suffered," and so has done every hundred years since. He heard the cry from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," and as a sincere penitent sought and found salvation. He was christened Joseph, the baptismal rite being performed by Ananias, who afterward baptized the Apostle Paul. "This Joseph," said Henri Spigurnel, one of the knights in attendance on the Armenian prelate, "often ate at the table of my lord the archbishop in Armenia. He is a man of holy conversation, and very religious; a man of few words, and circumspect in his behavior; for he does not speak at all unless when questioned by the bishops and relig ious men, and then he tells of the events of old times, and of the events which occurred at the suffering and resurrection of our Lord, and of the witnesses of the resurrection, namely, those who rose with Christ and went into the holy city, and appeared unto men. He also tells of the creed of the Apostles, and of their separation and preaching. And all this he relates without smiling or levity of conversation, as one who is well practiced in sorrow and in the fear of God, always looking forward with fear to the coming of Jesus Christ, lest at the Last Judgment he should find him in anger whom, when on his way to death, he had provoked to just vengeance."* Though many gifts were offered to him, Joseph declined to receive them, and shunned observation, though thousands came from the four quarters of the earth to enjoy his society and conversation. This remarkable story-the earliest form of the myth that has descended in detail to modern times-was told in response to the eager questionings of the monks as to whether their guests had seen "the wonderful Jew of whom there is so much talk in the world:" an evidence that the legend was already current in western Christendom. Whether Spigurnel's account was a little fiction devised for the purpose of exalting his patron in the eyes of the Latin monks, or whether he had really met the man of whom he gives so graphic a description, is uncertain. Ricardus de Argentomio, who shortly afterward visited the East, is quoted as attesting the truth of the narrative. For nearly three hundred years after it was penned, *Paris, Historia Major, as quoted by Baring-Gould, "Curious Myths," pp. 6-8. European writers make no mention of the Jew. But in 1505 an aged man claiming to be Cartaphilus appeared in Bohemia; and it was asserted that he assisted a weaver named Kokot to recover valuables which his great-grandfather had hidden sixty years before. A few years later, just after the capture of the city of Elvan, it was reported that he appeared to the Moslem warrior Fadhilah, and repeated his sad story of the death of Christ, and his prophecy of his second coming. The next account was published in 1613. It gives another name to the Jew, and a quite different description of the events which led to his curse. It is so full in detail, and is supported by such a body of evidence, that there is hardly room for doubt that during the latter half of the sixteenth century there appeared a man-perhaps more than one-who with great skill personated the hapless wanderer. Chrysostomus Dudulous Westphalus is the author's name or pseudonym, and his narrative* begins as follows: Paulus von Eizen, doctor and Bishop of Schleswig, related to me, some years ago, that at the time he was studying at Wittenberg, while on a visit to his parents at Hamburg, in 1547, he had seen in church, placed near the chancel, a very tall man, with hair falling on his shoulders, barefoot, who listened to the sermon with great attention; and whenever the name of Jesus was mentioned, bowed humbly, smote his breast, and sighed. He had no other clothing in the bitter cold of the winter, except a pair of hose, which were in tatters about his feet, and a coat with a girdle which reached to his feet; and his general appearance was that of a man of fifty years. There seem to have been many of the nobility and gentry who have seen this man, in England, France, Italy, Hungary, Persia, Spain, Poland, Moscow, Lapland, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, and in other regions. Every one has marveled much at him. When the sermon was finished the "aforementioned doctor sought out the stranger, and asked him how long he had lived in the neighborhood. He answered with frankness and modesty. His name was Ahasuerus: he was a native of Jerusalem, of Jewish parentage, and a shoemaker by trade. He had been present at the crucifixion of Christ, had lived through the intervening centuries, and been an eye-witness of many *The full title was: Newe Zeitung von einem Juden von Jerusalem, Ahasuerus genannt, welcher die Creutzigung unsers Herrn Jhesu Christi gesehen und noch am leben ist, aus Dantzig an einem guten Freund geschrieben. 493 famous historic events. There was hardly on the face of the earth a country or city he had not visited. He was especially graphic in his description of the last hours of Christ, and gave a minute account of the "life, sufferings, and death of the holy apostles." "He told even more than we know through the evangelists and historians; and he narrated the many changes of government, especially in Eastern countries, which had occurred at one time or another during those many centuries." This narration very naturally excited "Doctor Paulus v. Eizen's great interest and astonishment," and in the presence of the learned school-inspector of Hamburg he put the man through a rigid cross-examination. Ahasuerus averred that he with many others had regarded Christ as a heretic and a deceiver of the people. When sentence was pronounced upon our Lord by Pilate, he ran homeward, and summoned his family to the door that they might see this impostor, who was shortly to be dragged past on his way to Calvary. With his infant child seated on his arm, he stood, while the soldiers passed, with Christ in their midst, staggering under the weight of a heavy cross. Jesus stopped for a moment and leaned his cross against the wall. But the shoemaker, "full of sudden anger and also desirous of public applause," gruffly ordered him on. Jesus responded, "I will stand and rest, but thou shalt move on till the last day." At once Ahasuerus "felt within him that he could stay there no longer;" he set down his child, followed Jesus to his crucifixion, and never again saw wife or children. When he returned to Jerusalem "not one stone was left upon another, nor was any trace of its former magnificence visible." So vivid and exact was the old man's report of these ancient events, that, we are told, "it was impossible not to be convinced of the truth of his story, and to see that what is impossible with men is, after all, possible with God." Dudulous speaks at length of the silence and reserve of the Jew's manner; of his sobriety and voluntary poverty; of his ability to speak each European language with the skill of a native; and of his "eternal hurry "-never continuing long in one place. He "could not endure to hear curses, but whenever he heard any one swear by God's death or pains he waxed indignant, and exclaimed with vehemence and with |